With a band-themed music game – Green Day Rock Band being no
exception – it's too easy to say “if you like the band Green Day, you'll
like the game. If you hate Green Day, this probably won't change your mind.”
But this game presents more than just a simple Rock Band expansion with new
songs. Just like The Beatles Rock Band, the featured group injects their
personality into everything from the menus and in-game performances to the
unlockable live concert footage. Though, also like The Beatles Rock Band, Green
Day fails to try anything truly innovative. Still, developer Harmonix proves
that they not only know how to craft a fine music game, they know how to pick
just the right subject matter, as well.
I'm not a music critic, so this is a review of the game, not the band. But as
someone who hasn't listened to a Green Day album in its entirety since Dookie,
I was surprised by the wide focus of the band. Dookie is just as infectious as
it's always been, but I wrongly assumed that the group had kept making those
same pop-punk tracks in subsequent years. However, songs like “Peacemaker,”
which mixes surf rock and gypsy guitar rhythms, or the Latin rock-inspired
“¿Viva La Gloria?” stray from the band's typical sound, yet remain catchy
enough that I was still humming them the next day. While nowhere near as
influential as The Beatles, Green Day certainly proves that they have the range
to support a full videogame around their music, without the setlist
becoming stale.
Let me say it first: If you aren't a fan of Green Day or you've become tired of the music rhythm genre, then this is not the game for you!
But for those like me, 50ish Green Day songs, fully exportable to RB2 and RB3 (coming this holiday season) all for 60 bones is a steal!
Looks just as good as Beatles: Rockband, hopefully another great rockband game to jam round with. Great!
If your a fan or Rock Band (or that other game) this this is a win. It playes really well, it has the full american Idiot album on it and the band is very well modeled and FUN TO WATCH.
MTV and Harmonics got it right here, they should have other games like this…. revisit AC/DC and model them, make a foo's game, Disturbed etc
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